Multiple reservoir fluid medium distribution system



Jan. 12, 1943. D. MAPES 2,307,784

MULTIPLE RESERVOIR FLUID MEDIUM DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM Filed Aug. 27, 1941 2 Shets-Sheet i mo NEY 7 Filed Aug. 27, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

Jan. 12, D M S MULTIPLE RESERVOIR FLUID MEDIUM DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM FROM r OPERATING Hum PRESSURE SUPPLY ark/@ 028 mi: EY'

R M .m w m 1 8 9 6 m 8 T 7 w=w Patented Jan. 12, 1943 MULTIPLE RESERVOIR FLUID MEDIUM DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM Daniel Mapes, Rutherford, N. J., assignor to Spe cialties Development Corporation, Bloomfield, N. J a corporation of New Jersey Application August 27, 1941, Serial No. 408,425

6 Claims.

The present invention relates to high pressure gaseous fluid medium distribution systems, and more particularly to fir extinguishing systems employing carbon dioxide under pressure as the extinguishing medium. The carbon dioxide in such systems is stored in containers under high pressure and when required, is released into and distributed through appropriate distributing conduits which conduct it to the space or spaces afire.

More especially this invention relates to fire extinguishing systems of the type in which the fire extinguishing fluid medium is released by a fluid medium under pressure; where a plurality of spaces are protected; and in which the release of the extinguishing medium is somewhat delayed so as to permit of a warning to be given to occupants of the space to be flooded by the extinguishing medium.

While the present invention has certain features in common with the apparatus disclosed in the copending application for Letters Patent of the United States Serial No. 302,202, filed Oct. 31, 1939, it differs therefrom in that provision is made for the utilization in various combinations of a plurality of separate banks of containers and for an adaptable fluid pressure release control therefor.

In apparatus of this character, it is frequently necessary to protect a great variety of spaces with an accompanying variation in each case in the requirements for the extinguishing medium.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a high pressure fluid medium distribution system, as embodied in a fire extinguishing apparatus of the type referred to, which is capable of protecting a plurality of spaces having varying fire extinguishing fluid medium requirements.

Another object of the invention is to provide in a system of the type referred to, fluidpressure operable control apparatus which permits of the release of variable quantities of extinguishing medium.

A further object is to make provision in such a system for the operator to be able to preselect a desired outlet from among a plurality of possible outlets, and to release, automatically, extinguishing medium in accordance with predetermined requirements.

Further objects, not specifically enumerated above, will be apparent as the invention is described in greater detail in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 represents a multi-space, multiple container bank fire extinguishing system in accordance with the invention and shown in diagrammatic form.

Figure 2 illustrates schematically the fluid release apparatus for a pair of extinguishing fluid medium containers, while Figure 3 showsin section the general characteristics of one of the direction valves used in the system of Figure 1.

Referring now particularly to Figure 1, a plurality of spaces, which are to be protected, are indicated at I throughl; at 8, 9 and I0 are shown reservoirs or banks of storage cylinders or sources for liquid carbon dioxide adapted to dischargeinto a main conduit I I to which aremanifolded branch conduits I2 leading into the spaces I through I. The individual containers grouped together in the three banks, as shown, may be controlled as a group or individually for-the release; of their fluid by means of a fluid pressure operable apparatus I3, indicated by broken lines and more particularly described in connection with Figure 2. The release apparatus I 3 is actuated by fluid supplied through conduits I4, 'I 5 and I6, and coming through a main carbon dioxide or compressed air supply line H. The admission of operating fluid pressure medium to the conduits I4, I 5 and I6 and to the apparatus I3 is'controlled by 'normally closed valve I8, I9 and '29 which are of the fluid pressure opened, piston operated type. The fluid to operate these valves is fed through a conduit 2i, which is in communication with all three of the valve operating mechanisms through branch conduits 22, 23 and 2d. The admission of the operatingfluid from the supply line I? to the conduit 2I is, in turn, controlled by a normally closed valve 25. This valve 2'5 is operatively com bined with a time-delay device 28 in the manner as disclosed in Figure '1 of the copending application for Letters Patent of the United States, No. 302,202, that is, its operation by direct action of pressure is possible only after the time delay device has operated. However, the time delay, instead of being released by means of a pull cable, is, in this case, released through the actuation of a fluid pressure operated mechanism 21, the details of which form no .part of the present invention, and which may take any one of a number of well known forms of fluid motors.

The fluid motor Z'Iis supplied with operating pressure fluid through conduit 28, which commuincates with the conduits I4, I5 and I6 through the branch conduits 29, 30 and SI. Conduits I4, I5 and It are associated with an operating fluid supply or source 48 by way of the conduit I! through the medium of operating control valves 55 32 through 38, which control supply branch conduits 4| through 47. These branch conduits serve to conduct operating fluid under pressure from the source 48 to the release apparatus l3 of the banks I 4, I5 and I8, each branch serving to convey operating fluid to a permutational combination of these banks or sources. Thus, for instance, the branch conduit 44 serves banks 8 and 8, while the branch conduit 43 combines banks 8 and I8 for a simultaneous operative release. This is accomplished by means of connector conduits 48, which connect the conduits |4, l5 and H5 with the supply branch conduits 4| through 41 in the proper combinations to achieve the permutations of banks 8, 9 and H], as above referred to. -A vent 58 and a check valve 5| are providedi each of the connector conduits 49, while a check valve 52, designated as a, b and c, is also seen .to be placed in each of the conduits 28, 38 and 3|, the significance of which will appear later. The check valves 5| are individually referred to by references a to Z.

Upon being discharged into the manifolded branch conduits I2, the flre extinguishing medium by its pressure opens direction or branch valves 53, which are normally kept latched in a closed, position. The unlatching of these branch valves 53 by means of an operating fluid pressure medium, acting through the conduits 4| to 41, will become evident in connection with the detailed description of Figure 3. The branch conduits |2 are shown to terminate within the protected spaces to and are there provided with extinguishing medium discharge nozzles 54, While the operating supply fluid branch conduits 4| to 41, also leading into spaces to l, ar provided with pressure fluid operated warning bells or whistles 55, the particular design of which is not relevant to this disclosure.

For the situation Where a simultaneous release of all banks to all the protected spaces is desired, usually a very rare occurrence, provision is made to operate all the banks and to open all direction valves 53 at once. In Figure 1, this is shown to comprise a special operating control valve 94, which controls the access of compressed air or other fluid medium under pressure from the source 48 into the conduit 85. The conduit 95 is provided with branches 95 which connect into the anisms of all of the containers in the three banks shown in Figure 1. In the diagrammatic form employed here, there is indicated at 58 a fluid storage reservoir or container which is provided with a fluid pressure operable releasing means 51,

comprising a main valve 58 adapted to control the discharge of the fluid medium in the container 58 past a valve seat 59, into a chamber 60 and out into discharge tubing 6|. The discharge tubing 6| conducts the released fluid medium to the main discharge manifold shown in Figure 1. The valve 58 is adapted to be operated by a piston 62 reciprocally movabl in a cylinder 63, separated from the chamber 68 by a partitioning wall '64. The piston 62 and the valve 58 are operatively joined by a connecting rod 65 which passes through an appropriate aperture in the wall 64. Each of the containers 56 is equipped with a fluid flow connection 86 connecting the container with the operative portion of the cylinder 63. A control or pilot valve 81 is located in til the connection 66. This pilot valve is adapted to be actuated by means of fluid pressure operable means 68 comprising a cylinder 89 and a piston 18 movable therein, a connecting rod jo the piston 70 and the valve 81. The pilot valve 61 is also operable manually by means of a knob 12 and an actuating member 13, which extends into the cylinder 69, and which is capable, when actuated, of depressing piston 70 and capable of opening th pilot valve 61. The cylinders 89 of the pilot valve operating means 88 for the containers of a single bank are all connected to a pressure fluid supply line 14, which is referred to as l4, l5 and H5 in Figure l.

The construction of the direction valves 53 of Figure 1, is shown in a detailed embodiment in Figure 3, and comprises a valve body 15 formed with an inlet 76 and an outlet 11, and having a valve seat 18 intermediate the inlet and the outlet. A valve member 19 is adapted to seat on the valve seat, being held there by the action of its top surface by a spring 88, which with its upper end bears against the nether surface of an appropriately recessed plug 8| disposed in an opening of the valve body 15. The plug 8| is formed with a secondary valve seat 82 facing the upper surface of the valve 18, so that, in case of discharge, when the valve member is lifted from its seat 18 by the pressure of the incoming fluid, its upper surface, where a corresponding secondary valve 83 is located, makes a sealing contact with the secondary valve seat 82 to prevent leakage of the fluid past a Valve stem 84. The valve stem 84 extends through and beyond the plug 8|. A piston-actuated latch 85 is shown reciprocally movabl in a cylindrical member 86 threadedly secured to the top of the plug 8|. The cylindrical member 86 is divided into two chambers 81 and 88 by means of a partition 88. The chamber 88 serves as a cylinder for a piston 88, which is movable against the force of a spring 9| by fluid under pressure supplied through tubing 82. Movement of the piston 98 causes the latch member 85, which is secured thereto, to move with it to one side, thus permitting the valve stem 84 and the valve 19 free to move upwardly through an aperture 93 in the latch member 85 due to pressure acting on the valve l9 through the inlet 18, and to permit fluid to pass from the inlet toward the outlet of the valve device. Tubing 82, in Figure 1, is represented by the supply branch conduits 4| to 41.

The operation of the system is as follows:

To'facilitate the understanding of the operation of the complete system, it will be assumed that the space 5 is to be flooded with fire extinguishing medium. This space requires all the containers of the banks 8 and I8 to be released simultaneously. It is also assumed that compressed air is the operating medium. Upon opening of the operating control valve 34, associated with space 5, compressed air from the source or supply 48 is permitted to pass through this valve into the branch conduit 43 down to the piston 98 of the direction valve 53, controlling the admission of extinguishing fluid into the space 5. The valve 53 is thus unlatched and put in a position to be opened at the flrst onrush of carbon dioxide from thecarbon dioxide supply banks. The compressed air, in addition to unlatching the direction valve also sounds the fluid pressure operated warning device 55 in the space 5. At the same time, air passes through the check valves 5|, 1) and kin the connector conduits 48 connected to the branch conduit 43, which permit the air to advance in the direction of the arrow into the operating fluid conduits l4 and 1-6 and up tothe valves l8 and 20 which are normally closed. It is evident that the check valves 5| prevent the operating fluid released by the control valv 34 from reaching any of the other supply branch conduits through the Connector conduits 49, and thereby prevent the operation of any of the direction valves other than that associated with theair under pressure has previously passed through the check valves 5|, b and k toward the valves [8 and 20, the opening of the valve [9 has no significance, while the air now coming through the valves [8 and 26 causes the operation of the control or release apparatus'I-B of all the cylinders in the banks 8 and iii, thus releasing the extinguishing medium of all of these cylinders. will be seen from inspection of Figure 2, air under pressure passing through the fluid supply line 14, which corresponds to the conduits I4 or [6 in Figure 1, causes all of the auxiliary or pilot valve pistons 70 -to be depressed, and thereby causes the opening of the pilot valves 61. Carbon dioxide within the containers 56 is now able to pass through the fluid flow connections 66 and onto the back of the main valve operating pistons 52, thus opening the main valves 58 and allowing carbon dioxide to discharge into the manifold II.

All the containers of the banks 8 and H] are thus released simultaneously :to discharge carbon dioxide into the direction valve manifold II and through the preselected valve 53, which had been previously unlatched through action of air through the branch conduit 43. The required gas thus automatically reaches the space 5. After the discharge has ceased and the operating control valve 34 has been closed, the valve 53, lead- For example, by operating the control valve 32, all

the gas of the banks 8, S and 10 would be released into the space 7 in a manner similar to that described for the space 5.

In view of the above, the operation of the system as a whole by the control 94 will be selfevident, as such operation of the control 94 will cause the opening of all direction valves 53 as well as the release of all the banks 8, 9 and Ill, by the admission of operating fluid into all the supply branches 4l to 41 resulting in the simultaneous flooding of the spaces I through 1.

In some cases, when it is desired to obtain a slower or partial discharge of a bank, the operator is enabled to operate individually the necessary cylinders by pushing or turning down the manual local pilot valve control knobs 12 on the top of each piston operated control head. This will cause the release of gas only from the cylinders directly operated without aifecting the others. Later on, additional cylinders may be discharged in a similar manner and in the desired quantity.

It may be seen from the above description and operation that any combination between any number of spaces and any number of cylinders is possible, merely, by increasing the number of the operating control valves 32 to 38, the number of check valves valves 53.

Since each of the three groups of connector "conduits 49,"as illustrated, comprises four conduits manifolded together to the conduits l4, l5 and i3, respectively, there exists the possibility that the operating fluid pressure medium releasedby any of the control valves 32 to 38 may ieak past the check valves 5| and undesirably operate some of the direction valves 53' through the corresponding supply conduits 4! to 41. orderto prevent such a possible undesirable operation of any except the selected direction valve 53, provision is made to .vent the connector conduits 49 through the vents 50.

Havingde'scribed a preferred form of the invention, I donot wish to limit myself to the spe-,

cific details set forth but wish to reserve to myself any changes or variations that may appear to those skilled in the art as mechanical equiva lents or fall within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A fire extinguishing system for protecting. a plurality of enclosures comprising in combination a plurality of sources for a fluid medium under pressure, a common main delivery conduit for said sources, a plurality of branch conduits connecting said, main conduit with said enclosures, a fluid pressure operated flow controlvalve in each of said branch conduits, locking means for eachof said control valves adapted to be rendered inoperative by fluid pressure, fluid pressure operable means for releasing the fluid medium from each of said sources, a separate operating fluid pressure supply for the operation of said last named means, a supply conduit for connecting the releasing means of each source with said fluid pressure supply, a control means associated with each operative permutational combination of said supply conduits with respect to said operating fluid supply corresponding to the number of enclosures, a normally closed valve in each of said last named supply conduits to control the admission of fluid pressure to each of the reservoir releasing means, pressure operable valve opening means associated with each of the last named valves, common fluid flow connecting means from said operating fluid supply to all of said pressure operable valve opening means, a normally closed pressure operable valve in said common fluid flow connection, fluid pressure releasable time delay means associated with said last named valve to control its operation, a second fluid flow connection disposed between said time delay means and said last named control means, and a third fluid flow connection from the supply through said control means to each of said pressure operable valve locking means.

2. In a fire extinguishin system for protecting a plurality of enclosures and having extinguishing fluid stored in a plurality of sources, each source being adapted to be released by a fluid pressure operable device; the combination of conduits, one leading to each of said fluid pressure actuable releasing devices, a valve in each of said conduits normally held closed and adapted to be opened by fluid pressure, operating fluid con- 5|, and that of the distributing.

ducting means leading to said last named valves, a pressure operable controlling valve in said conducting means, and a fluid pressure operable time delay device operatively controlling said controlling valve, whereby the simultaneous operation of all of said first named valves is controlled by said time'delay device and said controlling valve.

3. In a fire extinguishing system protecting a plurality of enclosures and including fire extinguishing fluid stored in a plurality of sources, each source being adapted to be released by a fluid pressure operable device, and an operating fluid conduit for each of said devices; the combina- --tion of a main operating fluid supply conduit, a

branch conduit in said main conduit for each possible operative permutational combination of said operating fluid conduits, an operating control valve for each of said branch conduits, and

connector conduits between said operating fluid conduits and said branch conduits. I

4. In a fire extinguishing system for protecting a plurality of enclosures and including fire extinguishing fluid stored in a plurality of sources, each source being adapted to be released by a fluid pressure operable device, and an operating fluid conduit for each of said devices; the combination of a main operating fluid supply conduit, a branch conduit in said main conduit for each possible operative permutational combination of said operating fluid conduits, an operating control valve for each of said branch conduits, connector conduits between said operating fluid conduits and said branch conduits, and a check valve and a vent in each of said connector conduits permitting the flow of operating fluid therethrough in a direction toward said operating fluid conduits.

5. In a fire extinguishing system for protecting a plurality of enclosures and including fire extinguishing fluid stored in a plurality of sources,

each source being adapted to be released by a fluid pressure operable device, and an operating fluid conduit for each of said devices; the combination of a discharge manifold for said sources having branches leading to said enclosures, a pressure operable direction valve for each of said v branches; a main operating fluid supply conduit,

a branch conduit in said main conduit for each possible operative permutational combination of said operating fluid conduits forming a fluid flow connection to each of said direction valves,- an operating control valve for each of said branch conduits, and connector conduits between said operating fluid conduits and said branch conduits, whereby upon operation of a selected operating control valve a predetermined amount of extinguishing fluid is discharged into the selected branches; a main operating fluid supply conduit, a branch conduit in said main conduit for v each possible operative permutational combination of said operating fluid conduits forming a fluid flow connection to each of, said direction valves, a main operating control valve for said branch conduits, and connector conduits between said operating fluid conduits and said branch conduits, whereby upon operation of said main operating control valve the fire extinguishing fluid of all of said sources is discharged into all of said enclosures.

DANIEL MAPES. 

